[Sir_Dr_D]

Black plate should give a lower encumbrance penalty as well as providing high protection. Thats the point of good armor. Anyone can make highly protective armor if it is not a requirment that the wearer needs to be able to move. If black plate causes such high encumbrance why in themetic terms is it concidered good armor?

Plus I think that a good themetic way to fix ulm is to give them catapullts and siege engines. These can be researched in the construction path, and created by the smiths. You can have different kinds such as
- ballistas that do high level damage to a single target (ROF every three rounda)
-catapults that shoot boulders with AOF 1
-catpults that fire burning pitch which has the effect of low fire damage to a wide area of effect
-and battling rams which are slow moving tramplers.